The emphasis of the project “Go Digital” is on Digital Competences and Media Literacy which are closely related, and both draw on the same core skill of Critical Thinking. Media Literacy focuses on teaching youth to be critically engaged consumers of media, while Digital Competence is more about enabling youth to participate in digital media in wise, safe and ethical ways. Digital Competence and Media Literacy are complementary and mutually supporting and both can prepare the young people to use to digital technologies in a confident, critical, collaborative and creative way to achieve goals related to work and employability and moreover to learning, leisure, inclusion and participation in society.

Young Europeans must not only keep their specific job-related skills up-to-date but also possess the key- competences that will enable them to adapt to change. Digital competence is one of the eight key competences for lifelong learning. As a traversal competence, digital competence helps master other key-competences such as communication, language skills, creativity and innovation or basic skills in math and science. While it is estimated that up to 90% of jobs will require digital skills shortly, the skills gap is already visible: the European Union youth unemployment remains high at 22%, but at the same time there is a lack of skilled digital personnel.

According to a 2014 survey (http://ec.europa.eu/digital-agenda/en/news/scoreboard-2014-digital-inclusion-and-skills-eu-2014), up to 47% of the EU population has insufficient digital competence, including 23% who has no digital competence at all. Digital Competence levels are lowest in the least educated part of the population. This applies to all immigrant groups. Digital Competences is particularly beneficial to people with disabilities because digital competences can provide: (a) solutions to many of the employment barriers such as difficulties with transportation, workplace discrimination, and the absence of available jobs in which the individual is skilled (b) a direct route to achieving the individual’s career goals.

AIMS & OBJECTIVES

We focus in the Development of Digital Competences as a way to help the young people use digital technologies in a confident, critical, collaborative and creative way to achieve goals related to work and employability and moreover to learning, leisure, inclusion and participation in society. Youth organisations need to support their target groups, in particular, young people with fewer opportunities in becoming more empowered and aware of their employment possibilities through the development of their Digital Competences.

With the training course “Go Digital”, SEAL CYPRUS will bring together youth workers and volunteers from European organisations with the main objective to:

To promote the Digital Competence and Media Literacy among the individual participants (youth workers/ volunteers) and the target groups of the organisations and

use Information Society Technology (IST) and Information Communication Technologies (ICT) in order raise the effectiveness of youth work.

NUMBER AND PROFILE OF THE PARTICIPANTS

The 26 participants are going to be youth workers and volunteers motivated to develop their knowledge and skills and to share their experiences with others; open to other cultures and willing to disseminate what they would acquire in the training and ability to develop projects related to Digital Education.

METHODS

The training will be based on non-formal and informal education with a learner-centred approach. We will carry out activities such as icebreakers and energisers, discussions in the plenary, question and answer sessions, team- building activities, debriefing after each exercise, case studies, work in small groups, brainstorming, presentations, info sessions for theoretical input, hands-on experiences, team games, tests, intercultural events (international night).

There will be a place for reflection on learning experiences and outcomes (with Reflection Groups and with the Youthpass and the Digital Competence Assessment Tool processes) and different types of evaluation/ self- assessment.

RESULTS & IMPACT

With the participation in this educational activity, the youth workers will improve some of the Key Competencies for Lifelong Learning certified with YOUTHPASS and mainly the Digital Competences to achieve goals related to work, employability, learning, leisure, inclusion and participation in society. Digital Competences can be particularly beneficial to people with fewer opportunities. The partner organisations are expected to become more efficient in building educational projects and other initiatives to promote the digital competences of their target groups; to extend the international dimension of their work; to learn about practical methods in Digital Education, and to disseminate and exploit the project results.